On 08/02/2010 09:51 AM, Tim Robertson wrote:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg04063.html tells me that defaults aren't used at write time, but it means that I have to initiate all the Strings with "=new Utf8();" each time I create a message payload - is this correct?
Defaults must used at read time. This is is a requirement. But that doesn't mean they cannot be used elsewhere, as a feature of a particular implementation.
I wonder the reasoning behind not initializing with null types (e.g. for String using new Utf8()) in the client generation.
There's a performance concern, since if user code subsequently sets the value, then the 'new Utf8("")' from the default value would still be executed. Using constants for default values could fix that, but, since values are reused, constants are not safe.
It means I either need to modify the generated sources, or wrap them in some kind of factory/builder right? Is that a common practice for avro or are others doing something different?
Factory/builders are probably the best approach at present. Ideally we might generate accessor methods, track which fields have been set, and then set unset fields to their default values before writing.
Doug
